Know-How Exchange : Other

Speaking from a managerial pint of view...I think it is time to "crack the whip"!

You can do this is several ways. One way is to draft a new compnay policy regarding the matter with strict penalties for non-compliance. Go around and pass out copies to everyone and get their signature to prove they received a copy.

Or you could directly confront the most resistant employees with a stern yet professional "we've got a problem" tone.

Do all of the above in a meeting. State it cannot and will not be tolerated and why.

The consequences are up to you, but stick to your guns....the first person to cross the line in spie of everything listed above, let them have it (as far as the 1st offense goes) to show everyone you are not messing around.

You don't have to be mean to be effective, blend your own style into it, but that is what I do.

One last thing to consider....who's fault is it? Were they trained properly? Or are they just beligerent? Think hard about that one before playing "tough".

Good Luck!

- Jett Enterprises, Inc.

What are the purpose(s) of the database? Might sound simple but what you want to do with it should be explained to your sales force (or whomever) and tell them exactly (although it may be obvious to you) why it plays a big part in mandatory compliance - no excuses.

Is it to develop a newsletter (off or online) campaign?

Is it to focus on customers in the database and not prospects or is to further the depth and frequency of customer purchasing?

Now, regardless of this, there is no excuse for non-compliance. Your customer database is arguably your most important asset, it should not be treated with anything less than the highest level of importance.

From a new business perspective if you don't keep these in the pipeline, you will have serious cash flow problems, a "Top 20 or Top 10 Prospect Hit List" is imperative.

As Jett said, either get with the program or look for a new job (after all the HR CYA warnings, you don't want wrongful termination lawsuits) because these prospects are the lifeblood - "Keep the funnel full".

Hi Airelan

It is often a question of accountability. With our teenage children – if we ask them to make sure the kitchen is cleaned up after a meal – it never happens. If we assign one the dishes, another the knives and forks, another the pots and pans and another the classes… then we can see who didn’t do their job!

With your staff, if you can assign responsibilities to individuals and you can measure the accuracy of the results – you know who didn’t do their job.

If individual customers are assigned to each staff member – then it’s easy. If not, try linking the process of “doing their job” to updating the database. For example – if their job is to answer the phone – measure their performance from the database updates they make – not the number of phone calls they answer. There are many other variations to this depending on the technology you have and the processes you follow. But the key is – wherever you can, measure outcomes you want to achieve – not processes you have designed to achieve them.

Hope this helps

Paul

I had a similar problem in an company I used to work for, and I got the job of creating a CRM system, we went through the pains you did ... people hording details ... not updating the information but keeping it in their head, we ran competitions and incentives and finally, as Jett, suggest we just simply "cracked the whip".

We divised a new policy that strickly said that only customers and prospects on the CRM system, would recieve invites to events and hospitality, campaign mailings etc, and only sales validated through the same system would get commission, needless to say, it worked.

Try something similar, force them to use it.